FRANCE

Le VAL de LOIRE

JAPAN - NIKKO

YOOMEI-MON GATE of NIKKO TOSHOGU-SHRINE

PORTUGAL - PORTO (OPORTO)

Porto, also Oporto in English, is Portugal's second city and capital of the Norte NUTS II region. The city is located in the estuary of the Douro river in northern Portugal. The largest city in the region, Porto is considered the economic and cultural heart of the entire region. The city, which had an estimated population of about 240,000 (2008), lies at the centre of the political Greater Metropolitan Area of Porto, with a population of slightly more than 2.0 millions (est. 2008),and of a broader metropolitan agglomeration (including the city of Braga) with over 2.9 million inhabitants in the 2001 census. Ribeira, the historic Centre of Porto, has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO (1996). One of Portugal's most internationally famous products, Port wine, was named after the city because it was originally shipped from the area. or, more precisely, from Vila Nova de Gaia, a city just across the river which belongs to the same conurbation. The country was also named after the Latin name of this city, Portus Cale Porto is well known for its enterprising spirit, characteristic culture, people, and local cuisine. Porto district is one of the most industrialised districts in Portugal, and Maia, one of Porto's satellite cities, has one of the largest industrial parks in the country.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oporto

PORTUGAL - BATALHA

Batalha Monastery (Mosteiro da Batalha)

Mosteiro Santa Maria da Vitória, more commonly known as the Batalha Monastery, is a Dominican monastery in the Portuguese town of Batalha, in the District of Leiria, Portugal. It is one of the best and original examples of Late Gothic architecture in Portugal, intermingled with the Manueline style. It amazes the onlooker with its profusion of gables, spires, pinnacles and buttresses. It has become a symbol of national pride.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batalha_Monastery
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manueline

PORTUGAL - TOMAR

Convent of the Order of Christ / Convento de Cristo

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent_of_the_Order_of_Christ
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Christ_(Portugal)

PORTUGAL - TOMAR

Convent of the Order of Christ / Convento de Cristo

The Convent of the Order of Christ (Portuguese: Convento de Cristo), in Tomar, Portugal, was originally a Templar stronghold built in the 12th century. After the Order of the Knights Templar was dissolved in the 14th century, the Portuguese branch of the order was turned into the Knights of the Order of Christ, which supported Portugal's maritime discoveries of the 15th century. The Convent of Christ of Tomar is one of Portugal's most important historical and artistic monuments and has been in the World Heritage list of UNESCO since 1983.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent_of_the_Order_of_Christ
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomar

PORTUGAL - TOMAR

Janela do Capitulo / Chapter House Window

During the administration of Prince Henry the Navigator (first half of the 15th century), a gothic nave was added to the round church of the Convent, thus turning the round church into a church apse. From 1510 onwards, King Manuel I ordered the rebuilding of the nave in the style of the time, a mix of late gothic and renaissance that would be called Manueline style by art historians. The architects involved were the Portuguese Diogo de Arruda and the Spaniard João de Castilho. From the outside, the rectangular nave is covered by abundant Manueline motifs, including gargoyles, gothic pinnacles, statues and "ropes" that remind the ones used in the ships during the Age of Discovery, as well as the Cross of the Order of Christ and the emblem of King Manuel I, the armillary sphere. The so-called Window of the Chapter House (Janela do Capítulo), a huge window visible from the Saint Barbara Cloister in the Western façade of the nave, carries most of the typical Manueline motifs: the symbols of the Order of Christ and of Manuel I, and fantastic and unprecedented elaborations of ropes, corals and vegetal motifs. A human figure in the bottom of the window probably represents the designer, Diogo de Arruda. This window of the Convent constitutes one of the masterworks of Manueline decoration. Above is a smaller circular window and a balustrade. The façade is divided by two string courses of knotted ropes. The round angle buttresses are decorated with gigantic garters (alluding to investiture of Manuel I by the Order of the Garter by the English king Henry VII). The entrance of the church is done through a magnificent lateral portal, also decorated with abundant Manueline motifs and statues of the Virgin with the Child as well as the Prophets of the Old Testament. This portal was designed by João de Castilho around 1530. In the interior, the Manueline nave is connected to the Romanesque round church by a large arch. The nave is covered by beautiful ribbed vaulting and has a high choir that used to have Manueline choir stalls, unfortunately destroyed by invading Napoleonic troops in the early 19th century. Under the high choir there is a room that used to be the sacristy of the church. Its window is the famous Chapter House Window already mentioned.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent_of_the_Order_of_Christ

LITHUANIA - KERNAVÉ

Kernavė, a medieval capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, today is a tourist and archeological village (with population of 318 as of 1999) in Širvintos district municipality in southeast Lithuania. A Lithuanian state cultural reserve was established in Kernavė in 2003.

Kernavė is situated near the bend of the Neris and the Pajauta valley, next to the area of historic hillfort mounds, piliakalnis. Kernavė is situated on the right bank of the river Neris, on the upper Neris terrace. The distance to Širvintos is 21 kilometres, to Vilnius - 37 km. It is close to the Vilnius-Kaunas (18 km) and Vilnius-Panevėžys (17 km) highways. It is possible to travel to Kernavė from Vilnius by the river Neris. Kernavė is at the center of one of the Lithuanian districts. The southern part of the town borders on a nature reservation.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernav%C4%97#Geographic_Information

PORTUGAL - LISBON

Jerónimos Monastery

The existing structure was started on the orders of Manuel I (1515-1520) to commemorate Vasco da Gama's successful return from India. It was originally meant as a church for the burial of the House of Aviz, but it also became a house of prayer for seamen leaving or entering port. Construction of the monastery began in 1502 and took 50 years to complete. He used pedra lioz, a local gold-coloured limestone, for its construction. The building of the monastery was funded by a 5% tax on eastern spices, with the exceptions of pepper, cinnamon and cloves, revenue from which went straight to the Crown. By this influx of riches, the architects had enough financial margin to think big. The enormous amount of funds needed for this monastery, meant abandoning the construction of the Aviz pantheon in the Monastery of Batalha. The monastery was designed in the Manueline style by Diogo de Boitaca (who was probably one of the originators of this style with the Igreja de Jesus in Setúbal). He built the church, the monastery, the sacristy and the refectory. He was succeeded by the Spaniard João de Castilho, who took charge of construction in around 1517. João de Castilho gradually moved from the Manueline style to the Plateresco style, a style with lavish decorations that remind of silver ware (plata = silver). There were several sculptors who made their mark on this building. Nicolau Chanterene added depth with his Renaissance themes. The construction came to a halt when the king Manuel I died in 1520. The architect Diogo de Torralva resumed the construction of the monastery in 1550, adding the main chapel, the choir and completing the two storeys of the monastery, using only Renaissance motifs. His work was continued in 1571 by Jérôme de Rouen (also called Jerónimo de Ruão) who added some Classical elements. The construction stopped in 1580 with the union of Spain and Portugal, because the building of the Escorial in Spain was now draining away all the funds. The monastery withstood the Great Earthquake of 1755 without too much damage. But when the building became vacant in 1833 by the abolition of the religious orders in Portugal, it began to deteriorate to the point of almost collapsing. A cupola was later added to the southwestern tower. On December 13, 2007 the Treaty of Lisbon has been signed at the monastery, laying down the basis for the reform of the European Union.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jer%C3%B3nimos_Monastery

CZECH REPUBLIC - KROMERÍZ

ISRAEL - TEL-AVIV

Tel Aviv-Yafo (Hebrew: תֵּל ־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ‎ Arabic: تل أبيب‎, Tal ʾAbīb)(usually Tel Aviv) is the second-largest city in Israel, with an estimated population of 390,100.The city is situated on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline, with a land area of 51.8 square kilometres (20.0 sq mi). It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, home to 3.15 million people as of 2008. The city is governed by the Tel Aviv-Yafo municipality, headed by Ron Huldai. Tel Aviv was founded in 1909 on the outskirts of the ancient port city of Jaffa (Hebrew: יָפוֹ‎, Yafo). The growth of Tel Aviv soon outpaced Jaffa, which was largely Arab at the time. Tel Aviv and Jaffa were merged into a single municipality in 1950, two years after the establishment of the State of Israel. Tel Aviv's White City, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003, comprises the world's largest concentration of Modernist-style buildings. Tel Aviv is Israel's economic hub, home of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and many corporate offices and research and development centers. Its beaches, cafés, upscale shopping and secular lifestyle have made it a popular tourist destination. It is the country's cultural capital and a major performing arts center. In the 2008 Mercer cost of living survey, Tel Aviv was ranked as the most expensive city in the Middle East and the 14th most expensive in the world.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tel-aviv

TURKEY

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